HBO, Amazon make deal to stream shows like 'The Sopranos'

After years of customer demands, HBO has finally struck a deal to bring its elite content to streaming video services -- and possibly upended the market dominance of Netflix in the process.

Home Box Office, a division of New York-based Time Warner, has agreed to put mostly old programming on Amazon Prime, the retail giant's upstart competitor to Netflix that's starting to see real traction. Shows will include "The Sopranos," "Six Feet Under" and "The Wire," beginning May 21.

Now, this is a limited deal. On average, the shows HBO is sending over to Amazon are three years old, according to Entertainment Weekly. And some limited distribution deals with cable channels is keeping some titles, like "Sex in the City," off the streaming service.

But by and large, this is a major expansion of content for Amazon Prime, which so far has lacked the overall programming appeal of Netflix.

This is the first time New York City-based HBO has enabled its licensed content be made available outside its HBO Go service, The New York Times reported.

The deal includes programming older than three years such as "Big Love," "Deadwood," "Eastbound & Down," "Family Tree," "Enlightened," "Treme," early seasons of "Boardwalk Empire" and "True Blood," and miniseries including "Band of Brothers" and "John Adams."

"Now Prime members can enjoy a collection of great HBO shows on an unlimited basis, at no additional cost to their Prime membership," said Brad Beale, director of content acquisition for Seattle-based Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN), in a statement.